BENEFITS : Soberfest Takes All Kinds

September 17, 1992|RICK VANDERKNYFF | Rick VanderKnyff is a free-lance writer who regularly contributes to The Times Orange County Edition.

To describe Soberfest as "diverse" is an understatement. The event, to be offered Saturday at the Irvine Bowl in Laguna Beach, will offer a performance by Dance Kaleidoscope of Orange County along with comedy, folk music, Latin jazz, a staged reading, gospel and country.

It's a talent-show format whose eclectic array of performers was chosen from videotaped auditions. "It's quite a wide variety of talent," said Lynn Bosworth, chairwoman of the event's audition committee. "It should be a really interesting show."

Soberfest is a fund-raiser for the Laguna Beach Canyon Club, a nonprofit group that provides meeting space and activities for 12-step alcohol recovery programs.

The club has operated from its location on Laguna Canyon Road since 1961.

"It's been a safe place for a lot of people," Bosworth said. Now, however, the group is raising money to build a new facility on land bequeathed to the club in 1982. "We just need a bigger space, one that will allow us to have more activities," Bosworth said.

Soberfest has been a year in the planning, and may become an annual event. Entertainers include comic Kat Simmons, who will serve as emcee, folk music duo Becky Black and Mimi G., comic-musical group the Zinkettes, and Shades of Jade, a Latin jazz and salsa band.

Other entertainers on the bill include comic John McDonnell, author Claudia Black and a variety of musical acts, including Carle Andersen and Tara Drennen, Deannie Wood, Lindsey Carter, Graffiti, Kim Long and John Michael Malley, Laurice Borgen, Benjamin, C.J. Littlepage, and Mike Broadway.

What: Soberfest, a benefit talent showcase.

When: Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m.

Where: Irvine Bowl, Laguna Beach.

Whereabouts: From the San Diego (I-405) Freeway, take Laguna Canyon Road south. The Irvine Bowl, home of the Laguna Pageant of the Masters, will be on the right just before entering Laguna Beach proper.

Wherewithal: $10 (limited special seating will be sold for $25 to $100).